Amazon.co.uk Review
Before there was empire, there was trade, and military force to protect that trade. Wilbur Smith's new, full-blooded historical novel starts with the commissioning, by King William III of Sir Hal Franklin. Franklin's mission is to rid the Indian Ocean of the pirate known as al-Aouf, the Bad One, and tells us more than we knew about the East India trade, Channel smuggling, the Arab slave trade and the struggle to keep Oman free from the Ottoman Empire.
Smith's solid, competent prose does not always avoid the hackneyed, but effectively conveys both the heat of battle and the savoury smells of lands experienced for the first time. Hal Franklin has four sons and the complex tragedy of their relationships dominates the book as brother is pitted against brother in love, and war, and treachery. The plot, though, is only a part of what is important here; the Indian Ocean trade was the site of one of the great confrontations between the English-speaking world and Islam--a conflict, between the brash mariners with their shiny new guns and the long-established, scholarly, brave, pious rulers of Arabia and the East African coast. A conflict whose outcome was open to doubt.--Roz Kaveney
Product Description
Monsoon is a Wilbur Smith 'Courtney' novel: a story of anger and passion, of peace and war. Action, romance and adventure shape a family's destiny as they contest a prize beyond any of their dreams...
It is the dawn of the eighteenth century. At the farthest edges of the known world, the mighty Honourable East India Trading Company suffers catastrophic losses from pirates of the high seas. After four years away from service, master mariner Sir Hal Courtney prepares for his latest and most dangerous voyage -- a death or glory mission in the name of the Empire and the Crown. But Hal must also think about the fate of his four sons. All are very different from each other. Each will have a crucial part to play in shaping the Courtneys’ destiny. Separated by the winds of hazard, adventure will rule their future – just as passion will forge their lives...
Wilbur Smith carries all the powerful drama and rich emotions of a bygone time into his action-packed tale of the sea. Monsoon is a masterpiece from the world’s greatest storyteller.
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by Wilbur Smith
by Wilbur Smith
by Wilbur Smith
by Wilbur Smith
by Wilbur Smith
